


my home in you

by moonrunes



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: M/M, bandaging wounds lovingly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28321296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonrunes/pseuds/moonrunes
Summary: Obligatory "patching up the other lovingly" fic, posted at @soulfriend's request bc i love him.
Relationships: Roberto da Costa/Sam Guthrie
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	my home in you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soulfriend](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulfriend/gifts).



> I _will_ write about them kissing for the first time a thousand times.

_Stupid._

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

The sound of the bag resonated around the empty gym, satisfyingly solid and loud, and Roberto’s entire world narrowed to the bag and his bare fists. 

He hadn’t stopped to wrap his hands or change out of his uniform, though he had at least ditched the jacket -- the air was cold against his biceps but he noticed it as if from far away, methodically beating the shit out of a punching bag. It really hadn’t done anything to him except exist, but…

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

Dani had warned him back, he should’ve listened, she’d almost taken a hit because of it, why couldn’t he _not_ act for _once-_

 _Just like Julianna,_ whispered a little voice in his head, and Roberto gritted his teeth until his molars creaked, hitting the bag harder. His knuckles throbbed, sweat dripped into his eyes, but he didn’t stop.

Someone could’ve gotten hurt. No one _did,_ but they _could’ve,_ and it would’ve been his fault.

Just like Julianna.

He didn’t even notice when he powered up, not thinking about it, but when he hit the bag again at full strength, the chain snapped. The bag flew across the room, miraculously missing all the other equipment, only to crash against the wall, bleeding sand from the split in the side.

He’d caused that. Destruction, as ever.

His opponent gone, Roberto let his hands drop to his sides. As much as his muscles protested, his mind wasn’t done, still racing as it did when the mission had ended and he’d stormed off to the gym.

How long ago had that been? 

Sound in the hallway. Familiar footsteps, boots against the floor. Roberto didn’t respond, staring numbly at the sandy mess, not even when the door opened behind him.

“Roberto?” 

He chose not to answer, hating how he heard Sam’s caution as he moved closer, hating that he even had to _be_ cautious. “Hey. Dani told me what happened.”

“Yeah?” Roberto fought unsuccessfully to keep the bitterness from his voice. “She tell you how much I fucked up?”

“She just said it was a rough mission. Didn’t say much more than that.” Sam sucked in a horrified breath and Roberto started when he felt Sam touch his forearm, lifting Roberto’s hand closer to his face. “Roberto, oh my God.” 

He didn’t resist when Sam pulled him over to a bench, watching apathetically as Sam grabbed the first aid kit from where it was on the wall, bringing it back and examining Roberto’s knuckles carefully. Roberto flinched without meaning to when Sam touched his knuckles gently, callouses rough where he’d lost skin and hadn’t even noticed. To his credit, though, Sam’s hands were steady, soothing, and despite the sting of the antiseptic, Roberto finally relaxed.

“You need to be more careful,” Sam fussed, holding Roberto’s hand gently in both of his own, wrapping the bandage carefully around his hands and wrist. The fogginess of his anger and shame was fading from Roberto’s mind, leaving mostly embarrassment and discomfort, more so as Roberto noticed how _close_ Sam was. “You should wear gloves or at least wrap your hands next time, ‘Berto, please-”

“Okay.”

Sam tied off the bandage with a frown. “Good. Is that too tight?”

“No.” 

Sam put his hand down gently, reaching for Roberto’s other hand. He didn’t seem to notice that pulling on his hand brought the rest of Roberto closer too, completely ignorant of the fact that Roberto was all but sitting in his lap, close enough to smell the shampoo on Sam’s hair. 

“I know you’re frustrated,” Sam murmured, and Roberto tried to will the heat away from his face. “But don’t take it out on yourself, okay?”

Roberto grimaced again when the wipes stung and Sam laced their fingers together, giving them a gentle squeeze as he finished wrapping the second bandage. “Okay. Good?”

Sam looked up, finally noticing how close they were, blushing bright red at the realization. Roberto thought dizzily that his heart rate was no longer because of the bag or the adrenaline or the workout, that he was so close to Sam that he could see the twisting patterns in his irises. 

“Hi,” Sam breathed.

“Hi.”

“You’re very close.”

“Sorry.” Roberto decided against pointing out that it was Sam who’d pulled him this close in the first place. “Do you want me to…”

“No, it’s okay.” 

Sam’s eyes darted down for just a second and he swallowed. “‘Berto…”

Roberto wasn’t really sure which of them leaned forward, all he knew was that the gap between them was slowly closing and Sam wasn’t pulling away -- if anything, he was holding on to Roberto’s hands like his life depended on it. 

He’d just let his eyes close when he heard the doorknob move, the two of them springing apart like opposing magnets and inadvertently knocking the first aid kit to the floor. Sam cursed and dove to get it, Roberto following suit, the back of his neck burning under Terry’s curious look. 

“You need any help?”

“No! No, no, it’s okay. Thanks, though.” Sam shoved everything back into the kit, refusing to meet Roberto’s eyes, dodging Terry to put it away. “I should get going, bye!”

“He was in a hurry,” Terry noted, watching Sam jog away down the hall. “Are you done with the bag, ‘Berto?”

“Uh...yeah. Yeah, sorry.” Roberto tore his gaze away from Sam’s retreating figure and shrugged sheepishly when Terry’s eyes traveled first to the empty space where the bag should be, then to the sand pile that had formerly been the bag, then to him. “Sorry about that.”

“Hmph. Well, that’s alright, I’ll ask Jimmy to help me bring in a new one.” She dropped her bag on the ground and left, and Roberto was alone again, his heart beating in time with the heat in his knuckles.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

~~~

_Stupid._

_Stupid, stupid, stupid._

It had been just about two days since the almost-happened moment in the gym, and it was _still_ all Sam could think about.

He’d avoided Roberto since then, feeling like he was missing an arm when he went about his daily life without him, but after what almost happened, Sam didn’t think he’d ever be able to look him in the eyes again. 

Stupid. Ruining the best friendship he’d ever had because of a stupid crush that he’d tried for _years_ to suppress, all that work just to throw it away on a stupid hope and a single moment in time. As much as he tried to push it all out of his mind, his mind kept drifting back -- not just to the almost-moment in the gym but to Roberto in general, as if his mind was a compass and Roberto was his true north. 

_Stupid._

Someone knocked at the door and he started, nearly dropping his book before composing himself and setting it aside. “Come in?”

Speak of the devil, and he will appear, though Sam thought he would never call Roberto a devil. 

“Hi.” Roberto stood in the doorway for a second, fidgeting anxiously with the box in his hands, before he coughed and shifted. “Are you, ah, busy?”

“No.” Sam was fairly certain he could’ve been in the middle of open heart surgery and he would’ve said he wasn’t busy, if only to keep the conversation going. “What’s up?”

Roberto frowned at his feet. “I can’t redo the stuff on my hands by myself. Can you…?”

“Of course.” Sam scooted over on the bed and Roberto closed the door behind him, sitting down on the bed awkwardly, still avoiding Sam’s eyes. It hurt, knowing that a single moment might’ve ruined their friendship, but Sam shoved it aside to examine Roberto’s knuckles.

“You could have Dr. Reyes or Hank look at this,” he said casually, and saw the muscles in his hand move before Roberto sighed.

“They’re busy -- did you want me to? I don’t have to-”

“No, no, it’s okay.” A little conversation was better than avoiding him entirely, but Sam found that he still hated it, this stilted exchange where both of them refused to even make eye contact with the elephant in the room. “I’ve got time. Lemme just wash my hands first.”

“Take your time.”

Upon his return, Sam tossed the old bandages in the trash, turning Roberto’s hand from left to right to look closely at the scabs on his knuckles. “Looks pretty good -- hey-”

He caught Roberto’s other hand just before his nails made contact and Roberto groaned, sounding so much like his old self that Sam smiled without meaning to. “It _itches_.”

“It’s supposed to. That’s how you know it’s healing.”

“It’s annoying.”

“You’ll be okay.” His hands felt soft in Sam’s own as he carefully applied ointment. “You just gotta distract yourself with something else to forget about the itching.”

“Hmph.” Sam could feel Roberto’s eyes on him, no longer looking at the floor, and it made his ears burn and his hands shake. “And what would you suggest?”

He shrugged, rewrapping the bandages ( _stupid things don’t lie down properly,_ he thought). “Well, not the punching bag. Some other form of workout, maybe? Then you mostly think about how your muscles are burning or your heart rate is up. Or maybe a movie? Depends on what you want, I guess.”

Sam put Roberto’s hand down gently and held out his hand for the other one, repeating the process on autopilot, and he heard Roberto _hmph_ again. “Okay. But what would _you_ suggest?”

“I just gave you my suggestions.”

“Yeah, but...I dunno. Nothing else that involves heart rates?”

“Well, you could throw yourself into a life or death situation, but I wouldn’t recommend it,” Sam remarked dryly, and Roberto laughed.

_God, that laugh._

“Not planning on it.”

“Do we ever?”

Another laugh, and Sam’s chest constricted when Roberto shifted closer, sitting so close that Sam could’ve rested his head on his shoulder to examine his hand.

“We never do, yeah.”

This hand, too, looked good, and Sam tied it up just as fast as the other. When he looked up, though, he found himself nose-to-nose with Roberto, just as close as the other day in the gym. Just like then, Sam found himself nearly speechless.

“Hi.”

Roberto grinned. “Hi. Think anyone will walk in this time?”

“Uh. I don’t think so?”

“Oh, good.” Roberto cupped Sam’s face in his newly bandaged hands and Sam wondered for the briefest moment if this was a weird mind-control or illusion _again_. The only argument to the contrary was of course that it felt so _real_ , so unlike all the other times that the aforementioned mind-control or weird illusions had happened -- but that was enough, Sam thought. What would telepaths know about the smell of Roberto’s shampoo? 

Roberto leaned closer, close enough for Sam to start worrying about how his breath smelled.

“I didn’t know what was up in the gym the other day,” he murmured, warm air on Sam’s lips. “So, you know, you don’t have to-”

He never finished his sentence. Sam closed the gap between them, squeezing his eyes closed and holding onto the fabric of Roberto’s shirt like a lifeline. In a heartbeat, Roberto responded, pulling him closer and kissing him harder, his entire body gravitating towards Sam, the feeling of his racing heartbeat under Sam’s hands when he moved them to Roberto’s neck. 

_Oh my God. Oh my God._

Someone knocked loudly at the door and this time, they didn’t jump apart. This time, they broke apart slowly, leaning on each other, foreheads together. 

“Hey, it’s time for dinner,” Dani called from the hall. “You awake in there, Sam?”

“Yeah-” Sam cleared his throat. “Yeah. I’ll be there in a second.”

“‘Kay.”

“Liar,” Roberto murmured, and Sam raised an eyebrow.

“How so?”

“You said raising my heart rate would help forget the itching.” He pouted and Sam couldn’t help but laugh. “It _still_ itches.” 

“Oh, no,” Sam said between laughs, kissing his forehead. “Maybe a movie, then, whenever you’re next free?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

“Depends on if you say yes.” Sam could feel himself grinning like an idiot but he didn’t _care_ all because Roberto was grinning back at him, cheeks flushed. 

“Well, yes, obviously, but it also kind of depends on the movie.”

“I’d expect nothing less.” Sam stood up and offered Roberto his hand, leaving the first aid box behind as they walked hand in hand to the door. “Maybe a horror to make you _really_ forget your knuckles?”

“Ugh.”

 _Stupid of me to not do this sooner,_ Sam thought before he caught himself, squeezing Roberto’s hand gently as to not displace his bandages.

_No. This happened exactly when it needed to._

**Author's Note:**

> as always, leave a comment and/or come scream with me on tumblr @karmirage !!


End file.
